MAWA has a roster of artists who are available on an hourly basis to help you with grant aps, critical feedback, or advice on a project. Rates are $40/hour. If you need some short-term mentoring, contact the mentor of your choice directly and let the mentoring begin!
Azul, (Yolanda Paulsen Quintana) is a multi- disciplined artist working in sculpture, mostly with bronze using the traditional lost wax method. She has given art workshops in the Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México and has been invited to give advice to the students of Monumental art classes at the National School of Art La Esmeralda, in Mexico City. In 2009, she had a residency at the Banff Centre, where she meet her future husband from Winnipeg. In 2011, she taught a Master Class in Sculptural Issues at MAWA as well as being the keynote speaker at the Symposium in “Sculptural Vocabularies” at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. She has exhibited her work in her home country of México and internationally.
Azul can share the experience she has with sculpture and can provide feedback on work in processs to artists at any level.
Bev Pike is a Winnipeg artist known for gigantic immersive paintings of architectural utopias amid climate catastrophe, based on her research into historic shell grottos. Pike’s work is in public art galleries across Canada. She also creates humorous Agony Aunt columns in artist books that are included in international collections.
Pike has written hundreds of funding and exhibition submissions for individuals, programs and organizations in Canada. She offers strategic advice on compiling a dossier, writing and editing of artist statements/proposals, artist talk advice, and experience in art scene ethics and activist politics. She can also provide studio visits and aesthetic critique. Pike is a trained archivist and is willing to share advice on information management practices, as well as her historical/archival knowledge.
Jo Poortenaar is a gallery preparator and installation technician who has installed artwork at a variety of museums, galleries and artist-run centers in Winnipeg, including the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Plug in ICA and MAWA. Poortenaar is also working as an art handler for Palka Fine Art Services.
Hanging art is easier said than done. Have a tricky installation problem? Get advice from a pro!
Jordan Miller, an arts-professional living and working in Winnipeg, graduated with a BFA (honours, 2002) from the University of Manitoba and Arts and Cultural Management in 2008. She has mentored artists and organizations through Creative MB, Golden Prairie Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Network, and cre8ery gallery and studio. She has 20 years experience in owning and operating a gallery. She shows her works in commercial galleries and art centres throughout Manitoba, currently represented by Pulse Gallery and Birchwood Art Gallery and is collected privately across Canada, the United States and by the Province of Manitoba. She specializes in commercial gallery art and sales, portfolio development, pricing your art, marketing your art, art branding and approaching galleries. As a visual artist working with many materials she has a wide knowledge of art supplies.
She specializes in commercial gallery art and sales, portfolio development, pricing your art, marketing your art, art branding and approaching galleries. As a visual artist working with many materials she has a wide knowledge of art supplies.
Leah Decter is an inter-media artist, educator and scholar who holds a PhD in Cultural Studies and an MFA in New Media. She has worked with MFA students at NSCAD University, the University of Manitoba and the international low residency program at the Transart Institute. Leah is currently the Canada Research Chair in Creative Technologies and Community Engagement at NSCAD University.
She has mentored in MAWA's Foundation Mentorship Program and at Video Pool, has taught at Queen’s University and has supervised MFA students since 2010. Her writing has been published in edited collections, academic journals and contemporary art publications. Leah can provide feedback to artists at any level on artwork, exhibition development and grant/proposal/statement writing, and can advise artists and organizations on the development/assessment of community/socially engaged projects.
Leesa Streifler returned to Winnipeg after four decades away doing graduate work in New York and teaching art at the University of Regina. Throughout, she has maintained an active studio practice. She has worked in painting, drawing, public art, installation, text, performance and digital photography. Her thematic concerns, always conveyed through the female body, explore themes such as agency, self-image, relationships, illness, the aging process, the grotesque, marginalization and interspecies communication.
She is passionate about helping emerging artists with all forms of writing including artist statements, grant and grad school applications, direction of studio practice, artists of relevance, trouble-shooting, presentation of work for studio visits or shows, studio practice, and work-life balance.
Matea Radic is a visual artist and animator, living and working in Winnipeg, MB. She graduated from the School of Art in 2009 and has been exhibiting and working freelance ever since.
Her area of expertise is in drawing and frame-by-frame animation. She can offer technical help with programs such as After Effects and Photoshop. She can also assist with realizing designs for promotional materials (posters, social media content. etc.)
Reva Stone’s work examines the mediation between our bodies and the technologies that are altering how we interact with the world. Stone is currently working with the ideologies driving the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. Although she herself doesn’t work with living material, she is fascinated with this type of work and the issues raised in its creation.
She has mentored through MAWA and has vast experience applying for exhibitions and managing an art career. She can provide feedback on work in progress, pose pertinent questions and suggest directions to consider.
Seema Goel is an artist, writer and craftivist. She draws on her dual background in arts and sciences to focus on the relationship between humans and the natural world, often highlighting contradictions within this relationship and noting the ways in which nature is used to advance human thinking. An eclectic range of materials from wool to projections on buildings allows her to combine high and low tech to engage her viewers through touch, humour and play.
Goel can provide rigorous feedback on works-in-progress, critical writing and exhibition proposals.